Of Far Off Dreams and Painful Memories
by Gurhur
Summary: Being someone involved in a war is not easy. Being a soldier is harder. But being one of those who are about to die? It's up to you to choose whether you accept that fact or not... "Let's stay together forever then, ne?" AU, SasuNaru
1. Of Far Off Dreams and Painful Memories

**A/N: **Hey there, people! Long time no see! I decided to finally upload _something_. This one-shot was inspired by Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song'. I watched the music video, and one of the three scenarios just made me want to write so bad that I wrote half of this in less than a day. That's quite a lot for someone like me. Haha.

This is actually short. It seemed longer on paper... Damn, that sucks. Oh well. The title may change, by the way. If you can think of a far better title, please tell me. :)

**Warnings:** SasuNaru, shounen-ai, AU, war, death, language, and lemon implication. Not exactly in that order. Oh, I also don't know _anything_ about military stuff. It was my father who told me the order of ranks, which I've forgotten by now.

**Disclaimer:** It obviously doesn't belong to me. If it did, the graphics would be absolutely horrible. So... yeah.

**Started:** 26/06/09

**Finished:** 12/07/09

**Edited:** 16/07/09

**Off Far-off Dreams and Painful Memories**

_**Present~**_

Tsunade fell on her knees as Kakashi and the others finished lifting all the rubble that had buried the pair underneath. She didn't want to believe it. He- no, _they_ were strong. Stronger than all of the military personnel besides her, in fact. To think that something like this would kill them…

The blonde woman shakily grasped what easily identified one of the bodies. It was a necklace, the stone pendant a blue-green in color. She knew it all too well. She was the one who'd given it to him, so many years ago.

'No,' Tsunade thought as tears pricked her eyes. She tightened her hold on the necklace and brought it to her chest. Its string crumbled to dust at the action. 'I will not cry. Not here, not now.'

She turned her eyes to the equally charred body beside the first, knowing without having to perform any tests exactly who it was. He'd always been there, after all, never leaving the other man's side. Apparently, not even death would change that.

Her grip tightened even more when she realized that the villagers and the rest of the military were crying openly. Not only for the death off their family and friends, but also for the two burnt bodies in front of her. This strengthened her resolve not to cry.

'I have to be strong. For the village, for my people, for those who have died, and most of all, for the two of you. You both did well… Sasuke… Naruto…'

_**Past~**_

Uzumaki Naruto woke up shaking, his clothes clinging onto his skin. His breaths came out in pants, and he willed his heart to calm down.

'It was just a dream,' he thought. 'There's no need for me to panic…'

Something stirred beside him, making him turn in surprise. Coal black eyes met his blue ones. "Sasuke…" he breathed out.

Uchiha Sasuke groaned and sat up. "Dobe, what are you doing? It's," He paused to look at the clock. "1:30 in the morning. You should still be sleeping."

Naruto sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I… had another nightmare." He admitted.

Sasuke gave a sigh of his own. "Come here." He said, opening his arms. Naruto gladly cuddled into his chest.

After a few moments of silence, the blond spoke. "Sasuke… I'm scared." It came out in a whisper. "I'm scared that one or both of us might die, or that we'll lose. I-I don't want that to happen. If we d-die, we won't see each other again. If we lose, w-we'll die anyway. I'm scared, Sasuke. I d-don't want to do this anymore. I just want it all to end…"

Sasuke cradled the other man in his arms. "It _will_ end, Naruto, one way or another. All we can do is fight, and hope that it will all end the way we want it to. Nothing changes the fact that we might die even if we were just normal villagers."

"I'm still scared. I don't want to lose my friends, or this village, or _anyone_. Especially not you. I've already lost a lot of things in my life. My family, my best friend, and people from the village. I… I don't want to feel the pain of losing someone anymore…" Naruto's sudden sobs filled the room.

The raven-haired man closed his eyes as he held his partner closer. Sasuke knew he was still suffering from the death of his best friend, Inuzuka Kiba. It was five months ago when it happened. Lt. Col. Inuzuka's unit had been separated when the Oto army raided their camp, and he was caught in the worst of the attack. Needless to say, the Lieutenant Colonel was killed in action. He died taking a blow meant for a First Lieutenant in his party.

The loss of his best friend had hit Naruto hard. What was left of the dog-loving man had been completely unrecognizable. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between his foot and his face. To say that the blond broke would be an understatement. Seeing Naruto so… so… _lifeless_ had broken Sasuke's heart. Bringing the comatose-like General back to reality was almost too hard a task for the Uchiha. Thankfully, he succeeded.

Naruto's soft snores snapped Sasuke out of his thoughts. He looked down at the mop of golden hair and smiled a sad little smile. Dreams, he knew, were the Uzumaki's only way to escape from everything around him. To think that even _that_ would now be filled with blood, death and war…

He couldn't suppress the feeling of dread that washed over him.

* * *

_Blood. There was blood everywhere. His hands, his clothes, his hair, the ground. If he didn't know better, he'd say that even the sky was bleeding. The sunset colored all that was above him red._

_Frightened blue eyes swept his surroundings. There were bodies everywhere too. They were piled up, one on top of the other. Glassy eyes stared at him, lifeless and unblinking._

_Bile rose in his throat. Those eyes, those faces… He knew them all. He could name each and every one of them with just one look._

_There was Tsunade… Sakura… Konohamaru… old man Teuchi… Iruka… Lee… Ino… Kakashi… The names, the bodies, they went on and on. They were almost never ending…_

_With a start, he realized that one person in particular, was nowhere in sight. He looked around him with renewed hope. One body. One body was missing from all the other bodies around him. His heart was thumping. Where…?_

"_Na… ru… to…" The voice made him freeze._

_Slowly, he looked down, hoping against all hope that what he'd see would be something to be happy about. His eyes then went wider than before, and he tasted something more than bile in his mouth._

'_No… NO!'_

_Black eyes looked unwaveringly into his, all traces of life slowly fading away until nothing was left. Blood matted his dark hair, and ran from his cold lips. And then he was gone._

_Naruto threw his head back, and screamed._

_**Present~**_

Her body responded automatically to the situation. She could hear herself giving out orders to clean up, to take care of the wounded, and to take the dead away. But inside, she was numb. She wanted nothing more than to break down, to escape from it all. She was just _tired_. Tired of everything.

There was something to be glad of, though. They'd won. They'd finally won the stupid war against Otogakure. Bur she couldn't find it in herself to be happy about it. They'd won, but at what cost?

Death. There was death everywhere. It filled her nose, her sight; she could practically _feel_ it all around her. They'd lost a lot of people. Family, friends. The elderly, the pregnant, the children, the _newborns_. So many innocent lives, taken away by some fight that had barely any reason behind it. And it wasn't only from their village. Surrounding cities, towns, and villagers were dragged into something they had nothing to do with in any way.

She narrowed her eyes in anger. Anger directed not only at whatever stupid reason caused the war in the first place, but also at herself. Indeed, many lives were lost. But they had not been lost in vain. What right did she have to go moping about it? With the loss, they had also gained a lot. Freedom. A chance to live and create new lives. A new _future_.

No, they had not died in vain. With that thought in mind, Tsunade resurfaced from her darkness with renewed vigor. Naruto and everyone else had died for this new future to be possible. She was not going to let the chance for it to slip away.

'Thank you… all of you…'

_**Past~**_

Umino Iruka looked at all the grim and worn faces around him. How long has it been since he heard someone laugh, seen someone give a genuinely happy smile?

'Too long ago,' he decided.

He hated it. The war had ruined everyone. No longer were the bustling shops, the children chasing each other happily through the streets. Most were just too scared to even go _out_ of their homes these days. Sometimes he wondered if all that were just a dream. A fleeting dream of joy and laughter…

But he knew that it had never been a dream. He could still remember, very clearly, his former students playing pranks on each other. They had all still been together back then. But now some of them were gone. Not only from his former students, but from his other comrades, too. A lot of them had fallen. He could still name them all, though, despite their number.

'I just wish this was all over…'

* * *

Naruto stood in front of the huge black stone with tears in his eyes. A lot of new names had been added since he last visited, and that wasn't even too long ago. All the names were just proof of how bad things were going.

'Dammit,' he thought as he furiously wiped his tears away. 'I'm not supposed to cry…'

"Naruto…" Strong arms wrapped around him from behind.

The blond felt cool lips press against his temple in an effort to comfort him. His own trembled as he let the tears lose. "I-It's so hard, Sasuke! All the new names… I knew –e-each and every one of them! I've seen some of them just last week, and some right before they left! I-I… it makes me t0think of who c-could be n-!"

He was suddenly spun around, and he found himself looking into Sasuke's pained and angry eyes. "Dammit, Naruto, I _know_. Stop doing this to yourself! You're not the only one to think that, and you're certainly not the first!" The black ice then softened. "Look, Naruto. You're not alone, okay? Those people… they were my friends, too. But this is life, and nobody can escape death. We all die, whoever we are, whatever we do. There are just those who choose to give their lives for those precious to them. We in the military are one of them.

All those who've died fighting… They all had just one thing in their minds: To protect their loved ones. Their deaths shouldn't make us weaker. Instead, they should make us stronger. Because we fight not only for those who are alive; we also fight for the dead. Not to avenge them, but to keep their dreams of peace alive. And to make sure that their deaths were not in vain."

Sasuke sighed and let go of Naruto's shoulders. "Naruto… Don't let Kiba and Jiraiya-sensei's sacrifice go to waste, okay?"

He then turned and left, leaving a dumbstruck blond behind him.

_**Present~**_

Sakura stared at her ceiling with eyes that were puffy and red from crying. Her cheeks were still lined with dried tears.

It was over. The war was finally over. Nobody had to die anymore. Everything could go back to normal. At least, as normal as the aftermath of war could get.

There were still a lot of things to do. There were buildings to repair, people to heal, and corpses to-

The rosette choked back another onslaught of tears. She'd already cried enough to fill four buckets. She wasn't planning to cry some more. But she couldn't stop herself. A lot of people had died. She'd been close to many of them, too. She couldn't stop thinking about them, and their loved ones that they left behind.

'Hinata… Poor, sweet Hinata. She already lost Kiba. To lose her unborn child as well… And then there's Neji, who just _happens_ to be her cousin. His wife… Tenten was one of my best friends…' It was then that she started chanting the names of the people who had been so dear to her, and had died throughout the war.

'There's Chouji… Jiraiya0sama… Kiba… Chiyo-baa-sama… Asuma-sensei…' her mental list went on, and with it came memories. Memories that were painful, happy, and even those that she thought she'd forgotten. Until finally, she reached the end of her list, three of the five most important men in her life.

'Iruka-sensei, Sasuke… Naruto… All of you… I loved and still love each and every one of you. I just really hope that you're all happy, wherever you are. Your wishes have all come true, see? We've won. Peace has been restored…

_If only you were all here to be happy with everyone else…'_

* * *

Red eyes watched as the people around him worked to restore the broken village. He just stood there, and no one paid him any mind. Not that he cared. It was better that nobody see him. After all, he wasn't even supposed to be there.

'Foolish little brother,' the man thought. If anyone were able to hear him, they would've picked up the sadness and regret under the uncaring facade. 'I told you not to get yourself killed. Now who's going to save me from my personal Hell and send me to the real one? I didn't… even get to tell you the truth of it all…'

He turned and walked away. He could only hope that, if anyone _did_ see him, they didn't notice the tears that flowed down his cheeks.

_**Past~**_

"What do you mean we can't go?!?"

"I meant exactly that, Naruto. Neither you nor Sasuke are allowed to fight in the frontlines. If you will fight against Oto somewhere, it will be here." Tsunade met Naruto's glare calmly.

"So our units are given the orders to go, but we aren't?!? What the hell is going on, baa-chan?!? _WHY?!?_"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose lightly. "It's the Akatsuki…"

Naruto drew back as if burned, and his face clearly showed the shock that he felt. It was Sasuke who finally broke the silence.

"_What?"_

"Our spies couldn't find out the exact reasons why, but the Akatsuki finally accepted Orochimaru's offer to fight alongside his army in this war," she explained. "We think we might know why, but you can never be too sure. That's why you'll both stay here. We can't afford to lose the both of you now. The purpose of meeting them is to weaken their forces as much as we can without having to send away any of our strongest.

You won't be missing anything if you're here. In fact, you'd be the ones to take them on the final battle. Because, when they get here, it _will_ be the final battle."

None of them missed the double meaning of her words.

* * *

Naruto collapsed on top of Sasuke with the raven-haired man still inside him. They were both panting, and their bodies were soaked with sweat. They just lay there for a while, waiting for their heartbeats to calm down.

Sasuke lazily wrapped his arms around his lover when he felt feather-light kisses placed along his chest, his throat, his jaw, and his neck. His breath hitched when a tongue went out and traced the outer shell of his ear, and he shivered when the blond caught an earlobe between his teeth. "Naruto…" he breathed out.

"Hm?" After another flick of his tongue, Naruto pulled back and looked curiously into almost-emotionless black orbs.

Sasuke captured the other man's lips in a soft kiss, putting all of his feelings into it. "I… I never told you, did I?" he said when he drew back slightly, his lips still hovering close to Naruto's own.

"T-Told me what? What are you talking about?" He was panicking inside. What was Sasuke gonna say?!? Did he think that Naruto was weak?!? It was very possible. He'd been crying a lot, after all, and he'd been having quite a lot of nightmares lately. Or what if…

'Oh god, what if he's gonna tell me that all we've been doing means nothing to him?!? That- That it was all just between friends and-'

"I'm talking about the reason why I've been doing this with you. Do you know what it is?"

'Oh no, I'm right, aren't I? He's gonna tell me that he never wanted me to think of it as… as…' "N-No, I-I don't…"

Sasuke took a deep breath and cupped Naruto's face in his hands. "I… I don't know why I never told you. I've always wanted to, but I never did. N-Naruto, I… I…"

The blond felt something in him dying, and he braced himself for the words that would break him. 'Here it comes…'

"_I love you…"_

The thing in him died… and abruptly sprung to life again. Startled blue opened to meet hopeful black. "Wha… What did you just say?" he asked, his voice coming out in a whisper. Did he just hear right? Did Sasuke just say-

"Dobe, I love you."

Oh yes, he did. Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke's neck as tears made their way down his face. He chanted the surprised man's name over and over again. "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…"

"_I love you too…"_

That single night, for them, was absolutely perfect. There was no war, no Otogakure, no Akatsuki. Just the both of them in their own little world.

Two days later, the Oto army, along with the Akatsuki, attacked.

_**Future~**_

Tsunade gazed out her window, which overlooked the whole village. She could still remember when there were barely any houses or buildings left standing. Everyone had helped each other restore Konoha to the beautiful place it once was. And because of this teamwork, they didn't only build a new Konohagakure. They also built a cemetery for all those who'd died throughout the war, military or civilian.

Her eyes raked over the gravestones, staring at two in particular. They were both colored differently from the others, as she had requested three years ago. One was a bright yellow, and beside it was a dark blue. Both were cleaned everyday by Tsunade herself, so that the colors never dulled.

'Just like their personalities,' she thought nostalgically. 'Whenever they were around, there never was a dull moment. They never dulled either… Although Uchiha himself was dull.'

"Good thing he didn't become any duller," she said with a wet chuckle.

The smile on her face, if anyone could've seen it, seemed to be comprised of three different emotions: Gratefulness, sadness, and most of all… pride.

_**Past~**_

The ground shook as another bomb exploded. "Dammit," Naruto cursed when he almost lost his balance. "Stupid bomb guy is a disgrace to all blonds."

Under other circumstances, Sasuke would've snorted at the idiocy of the comment. As it was, he could only give a sad smile.

The ground shook again, and it felt much closer this time. Naruto held his weapon tight, readying himself for whoever was approaching.

He spotted red and black cloaks in the distance, and his eyes narrowed. It was time.

* * *

It seemed so fast, yet so slow at the same time. One minute, he was running right behind Sasuke. And the next, he was staring wide-eyed at the wall that was about to go down on him. He couldn't get himself to move as it fell. It was as if he was frozen.

And then he heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking. Pain surged through his legs and spine, and he screamed.

Sasuke's heart stopped at the sound of the scream. He turned, wanting to think that nothing had gone wrong, and knowing that it was a lie. He ran to the blond's side with a cry of his name.

"Naruto! Fuck, dammit, are you alright? Shit, shit, shit, hold on, I'll get you out of there."

The raven-haired man tried to lift the rubble off the other. But he could only take so much before his own injuries and exhaustion caught up with him. He fell to the ground with a frustrated cry.

"Dammit!" He shut his eyes tightly, forcing his tears back. A few drops leaked, and they dropped onto his tightly clenched hands.

"Sasuke…" A hand gently grasped his own, and Sasuke looked into Naruto's eyes. His thumb rubbed circles soothingly against the back of the pale hand. "You should… You should go…"

"No."

"Sasuke, _please_. I obviously can't get out of here, so I'll d-die. I don't want _you_ to die as well!"

Sasuke snorted. "Dobe, I won't leave you. Inever did. Why start now?" He laid himself down beside the blond, ignoring the rocks and other debris digging into his back. He wrapped an arm around Naruto and pulled himself closer. He put his mouth by the other man's ear and whispered, "I don't want you to be alone."

Naruto felt his eyes burning, and he closed them to let the tears flow freely. "S-Sasuke… Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke… Thank you… Thank you so much for… for… for everything…"

Sasuke's lips turned up in a small smile, and he kissed the trail of tears on the tan face. "Hn. Dobe. There's no need to thank me for anything."

"No. I want to. You've always been there, and I never did understand why… Hearing you say you don't want to leave me makes me really happy…" He squeezed the hand that still held onto his.

"I already told you why, didn't I? I love you. And if we can't live through this together, then I'd rather die _with_ you." Sasuke said, his voice muffled by blond hair.

"I-I…" Naruto pushed back a new wave of tears. "Sasuke… I love you too. Let's stay together forever, then, ne?"

Silence fell over them after that, and they patiently waited for their death to come. A few moments later, a bomb sounded just a few meters away from them.

The last thing Sasuke saw before they were engulfed in flames was Naruto, looking back at him with the brightest smile he'd ever given anyone.

_**~FIN~**_

**A/N: **Actually, there will be some kind of sequel for this. Though you can't exactly call it a sequel...

If there are any grammatical or spelling mistakes, please tell me. I'll fix them as soon as I can. And I'll gladly entertain any questions you may have. Also, if you want me to, I can include a timeline in the so-called sequel. Just tell me ANYTHING you want to concerning this little ficcy of mine... As long as it's not in the form of flames. They will be ignored or sent to set many things on fire.

Oh, I almost forgot! Credit goes to one of my darling friends for helping me with this. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say her name, so I'll just leave that part blank. She's the one who came up with the title (though she says it's PERFECTLY fine if it were to change) and she also wrote the original 'sequel'. I think that's about it...

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and please review if you can. :)

**KatrineGenesis** (formerly TsubasaBeauty17)


	2. Epilogue

**A/N:** Okay. So I lied. Well, I didn't lie, but I made a teensy mistake that I didn't bother correcting. There _is_ no sequel. There is, however, this epilogue, which I actually finished the day after I finished the first part. It's just that I lost the hard copy for a while, and only found it again just recently. I was so happy. TT^TT

Anyhow, I hope that you enjoy this short, short epilogue. :D

**_Further into the past~_**

"… You idiot."

"W- w- w- what? T-that's not my fault, you bastard! This is all _your_ fault!" Naruto countered.

"Dobe, I always knew you were stupid. But I never knew you'd be _this_ stupid." Sasuke drawled with a roll of his eyes.

"Te- Teme…" Naruto growled. He raised his fist to punch Sasuke, when his face suddenly kissed the ground. Unknown to the blond, the other man was suffering the same fate.

Sakura stood over them, he lips trying to decide whether to scowl or to smirk. In the end, the smirk won. Apparently, the sound of their faces meeting wet earth pleased the sadistic part of the rosette.

"You nitwits!" she scolded. "We're on duty here, and all you do is argue about who is better than who at whatever your small heads can come up with! Honestly, I sometimes wonder if you look up to Kakashi- and Gai-sensei. Now look! You hit poor Hinata! I _don't_ even want to know where the damn shoe came from, or how the hell it ended up flying at her head."

They winced as they stood, and wiped the dirt from their faces. Surprisingly, Sasuke still had some courage and dignity left in him.

"You know what, dobe? I think I liked it better when she was fawning over me. At least then she never kicked my head to the ground." He whispered to Naruto, leaning close to his ear.

Although the distance had all but disappeared between the both of them, Naruto couldn't stop the laugh that came out of his mouth. It was a beautiful sound, really. Clear, strong, and—

Sasuke cringed away, putting his hands over his ears. Loud. _Really _loud. Sakura sighed from besides them and walked away. She knew that to get mad at them for being hopelessly idiotiv would be like getting mad at the sun for being so damn bright in the morning.

"I'd say the same thing, but she hit me just as much back then!" Naruto said with a grin on his face, his voice not as quiet as Sasuke's was.

Well, although they were idiots, they were _her_ idiots. She decided to go over to Hinata and nurse the lump forming on her head. She knew for sure that there would be hell to pay, courtesy of the Hyuuga's darling cousin.

Sasuke was surprised—no, _shocked_ that Naruto could smile such a big and bright smile. What's more, the fact that it was directed at him made him feel… happy. And somehow, the blond's aura got to him and made some kind of warmth pool in his stomach.

His lips were twitching with the temptation to smile when a thought struck him. This was _Naruto_. The idiot. The immature bonehead. The guy with the stupid face, stupid smile, stupid blue eyes, stupid smooth skin, stupid relaxing aura—

Shit.

Sasuke's eyes widened at the _stupidly_ girly thoughts he was having. 'What the hell? Did stupidity become some new contagious disease, or something?' he thought.

Naruto immediately sensed the distress Sasuke was having and couldn't help but scoot closer. His face was scrunched in worry.

"Hey, teme, you okay?" With his back turned to the sun, his face was cast into shadows. His eyes turned an amazing hue of blue from the lack of light.

In the end, Sasuke couldn't hold back the blush that made its way to his cheeks. To hell with thinking like a school girl.

_~ Fin ~_


End file.
